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Many of us wake up with atrocious breath and groggy voices. While I haven’t gotten to the point where my husband refuses to kiss me, he still comments about it. Not so attractive on many fronts.
It seems even worse when you have to wake up and cantor during an early Mass. I have personally sung at many an 8 AM Mass. I know churches who have Mass at 7 AM, though I’m not sure if they utilize cantors. If they do, God bless their voices that early in the morning.
Despite what anyone may think, it doesn’t take an overly special vocalist with a fantastic voice to sing that early in the morning. No matter how bad the voice starts off, there are tricks and tips to prepare every voice for singing.
Even in the early morning.
Why exactly do our voices croak in the early morning when we try to sing?
When we sleep all night without talking, laughing or exercising our vocal folds, they stiffen up. In addition, if you sleep in a dry environment at night, your vocal folds will need plenty of hydrating before you try to sing.
According to Medical Daily’s article, a deeper voice in the morning indicates a good night’s rest. If that’s the case, hopefully all vocalists suffer from this the night before singing. A good night’s rest is one of the key components for singing well that day.
Other reasons you may have a “froggy” voice in the morning:
Yikes! That outlines a lot of reasons your voice could be not so stellar in the morning. I personally have suffered from one or more of these while preparing for an early morning singing.
Do not be discouraged. There are solutions to these problems and many things you can do to help or fix these early-morning travesties.
Let’s break down some of these methods and figure out what works best for you.
The best way to combat early morning croaks is to slowly and gently warm your voice up in the morning. This will be in addition to the right foods and drinks.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of factors that go into creating the perfect morning singing voice.
Fortunately, you are ultimately in control of most of those factors.
How to help that morning voice? I will address this in the following segments:
Other resources for you to check out:
For one, don’t eat late the night before, says this article. This would be anything you eat approximately 2 or fewer hours before bed. This might lead to indigestion, heartburn, or acid reflux, all things you don’t want to be dealing with for early morning singing.
So what foods are a no-no on the day of a performance?
Here’s what another article had to say, and I agree with all of it!
You have to understand that partaking in foods like these will only result in a gross film on your vocal cords. This will keep them from vibrating freely and producing sound with ease. Or, as a side effect, those types of foods will affect how you feel because your stomach is struggling to digest and get rid of the saturated foods.
Here are a few suggestions on what to eat:
I would go so far as to add eggs to that list. Do not fry them a bunch of oil; instead, use a little olive oil.
They would be a perfect addition to your vocal-prepping breakfast.
Feel free to get as creative or non-creative as you like. Just make sure you eat something.
What you drink is even more important than what you eat. It has a huge impact on your vocal cords.
The reason we don’t drink the first three is because of the dehydrating effect caffeine and alcohol have on your voice.
If you think ice water wakes you up and cools your vocal cords, think again. The cold water will essentially freeze your vocal cords. This makes warming them up more difficult and lengthy in process.
These are all great alternatives to the aforementioned beverages.
In addition, I would always bring a bottle of room temperature water with you while you are singing to chase away any of those early morning croaks that might come back while singing.
There are a number of ways to warm up your voice.
Physical exercising and stretching is a fantastic way to get your body ready for singing.
Take deep, cleansing breaths in through your nose and exhale through your nose. Feel your midsection expand with the breath. Try to gently stretch your neck, back, and entire body while you breathe.
This will help wake your body up, bring blood circulation to all parts of your body, and increase the elasticity of your muscles.
Using physical movements should be the first way you warm your voice up. If the body is not ready to be warmed up, attempting to warm just a small part of the body up might be harmful.
For example, you can’t make a good cinnamon roll without first rolling out all of the dough, put in the right ingredients, and then gently rolling it back up. Only then you are able to cut smaller pieces and prepare for the finished product. (Does this analogy make sense? It did when I was writing it…)
Humming is a great low-key exercise to use when you are just waking up, or during a morning shower. The steam will help hydrate your vocal cords and prepare them for the stretching required of a vocalist.
I start with low humming. Once I feel comfortable with that, I go on to higher humming and eventually add vowels in place of my humming.
Slides will also be a benefit, as long as you do them gently and slowly.
For some easy warm-up examples, please check out 5 Simple Vocal Warmups.
You will need to warm-up or practice as long as you need to in order to feel adequately prepared for cantoring.
I recommend at least 10 minutes of slow, steady warm-up. You may start with something simple like humming and gradually add vowels and words to complete the set of warm-ups. It may be helpful to sing through the Psalm or Gospel Acclamation at the end of your warm-up to gauge how your vocal cords are doing.
Please don’t forget to add breathing and posture exercises into your practice.
When you don’t focus on the basics, they might get lost in translation and not work as well when you are actually singing.
Here are other tips for singing well in the morning:
In college, one of my music professors claimed that singing in the morning was all mental. When you wake up, if you are mentally ready to tackle the vocal task, your voice will follow suit.
I agree with this idea to an extent. Obviously, it helps to have the right mentality when arising to prepare for your vocal responsibility. However, that mentality is complete when you add the appropriate warm-ups, the right kinds of food and drink, and know your music material before you step up to the plate (so to speak).
I certainly know that morning voice is a thing. Every singer is aware of it and takes every precaution to avoid performing during those early morning hours.
Some instances cannot be avoided. In those cases, use the appropriate techniques and cautions to prepare.
From your food choices to your exercise routine, from what you drink to how you vocalize, it all matters when preparing that morning voice.
Go forth, ye cantors, and sing that early morning Mass with ease, skill, and smooth vocal cords!
Related Articles:
10 Easy to Sing Catholic Hymns
5 Ways to Become a Better Vocalist Every Day
What not to do when losing your voice
9 Simple Tricks for Better Singing
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Great article! Thank you for writing this! I've been singing at the 7:30 am Mass and it's like using a different instrument than the one I'd have at the 9 am or 4:30 pm.
Thank you so much for this! I am one of the few cantors who regularly volunteers for 8AM Mass, and I have yet to find a magic bullet to help me not be a little “off” through the Penitential Rite (usually I’m good by the end of the Responsorial Psalm, at worst the Gospel Acclamation). I have cantored 5:30PM Saturday Masses the past two weeks, and it is a breeze in comparison. (And yes, bless those who cantor at 7AM Masses, whoever they are!)
I usually drink coffee in the morning, but I didn’t realize I was probably making it worse. Instead, I will drink warm water and lemon tomorrow and save the coffee for after Mass. God bless!
So glad you found it helpful!
Thanks for the tips!!! I will definitely try them. My church has two church services. The one that I always worry about is the service that starts at 7:45 A.M. because my voice croaks a lot and I’m a soprano.. So I’ve been trying to find something that works for my voice.
By the way, what do you think about lemon and ginger tea?
I think lemon and ginger tea would be awesome!
Some great tips here! I was a church choral singer for many years and always struggled with morning mucus. Singers often take church and cantor singing for granted and don't offer their best selves when they sing early in the morning. Thanks for spreading the word about healthy morning singing practices!
Thanks so much, Joshua! I often forget myself when singing early, so it's good for all of us to be reminded of best practices!
I have a regular Cantor gig at 7 AM a couple times a month, and I tried out some of these techniques. It worked out great, thanks a bunch!
That's awesome, Nick! It is too easy to get up and just expect your voice to do good things so early in the morning! I'm so glad some of these proved helpful for you.